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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 1859.PDF
PARIS REPORT Porsche takes off Two general-aviation manu facturers have flown aircraft powered by the new Porsche PFM3200, another has fitted the engine to an aircraft, and one more began talks with the West German company at the Paris Show. Mooney reports that it has flown some 120hr with a PFM3200-powered 231 "in the 30 days before the show", while Pierre Robin installed an engine in a DR400 and flew it to Le Bourget within eight weeks of having reached an agreement with Porsche. Another French light- aircraft builder, Aerospatiale subsidiary Socata, has fitted a PFM3200 to one of its aircraft on show at Le Bourget (albeit a dummy unit sans pistons—a large concrete block anchor ing the nosewheel). Lake Aircraft has begun talks with Porsche about installing the engine on its amphibians. Porsche owns the PFM- 3200-powered Mooney, and is to fly it round the world soon. The company tells Flight that this "durability exercise" will last three months, and will take in Europe, the USA, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Indonesia, a second visit to the USA, and finally Europe. Porsche will then decide whether to go ahead with the engine and at what price it will be offered to manu facturers. The major claims made for the PFM3200 are good fuel economy, single- power lever operation, low noise, and an ability to run on avgas or mogas. FAA certification is expected in August or September, Porsche aircraft- engines development super visor Klaus Menzner tells Flight. Approval of the engine in West Germany was granted last September following work done with a Cessna 182 testbed. Unusually for an aircraft engine, it will have a cooling fan to control engine temperature (drawing very much on experience gained with the 911 sports car, whose engine provides the basis for the new power unit). Menzner concedes that this is one item at which the FAA has raised its eyebrows. The FAA takes -, FLIGHT International, 8 June 1985 Socata has fitted (but not flown) a Porsche PFM3200 in its TB16 the view that the system is a high-energy rotor system. Tests of the 20,000 r.p.m. unit with a blade cut through some 75 per cent at the root have apparently been conducted satisfactorily, with contain ment of all pieces at failure. Mooney was approached by Porsche "because they wanted a quality aircraft for their quality engine," according to Armand Rivard, one of Mooney's joint owners. The first of two engines was deliv ered to Kerrville, Texas, in December. If an agreement can be reached with Porsche, Rivard says that Mooney will consider a limited run of some 50 aircraft. Porsche is thinking of laying down a similar number for initial production. Agreement is very much the operative word: Pierre Gautier, president/director general of Socata, says that the TB16 "is not launched until Porsche has decided and we know at what level of cost we can proceed. Socata will fly the aircraft within six months of a Porsche decision. "We know enough to see that we have a good match". The aircraft will be flown "only for certification, which we know will be costly". Robin first flew its Porsche- engined DR.400/180RP on May 24, just a few days before the show. Later this month it will be taken to West Germany for a sales tour to determine the market. The French company sees a large market for glider tugs in West Germany (a strong Robin sales area), which has important environmental noise considerations. Each of the manufacturers is interested in turbocharged versions. The present 200 h.p. unit gives "201-like perfor mance to the Mooney 231", says Rivard. He attributes this to the clipped-tip Hoff mann propeller that has been used on the initial aircraft. An alternative Hoffmann prop is expected to be more satis factory. Socata says that it does not know "if the Mooney is as well adapted to the new engine as the Trinidad". Porsche engineers appear well pleased with the Robin cowling, and this is perhaps one reason why the engine has remained covered during the early part of the Show: the lines are indeed very clean. (Wraps covering Socata's aircraft were not removed until press day.) Socata's Pierre Gautier feels that if Porsche can match Lycoming's power, then the specific fuel consumption, single-level operation, and low noise are worth perhaps 15 per cent more cost than existing aircraft powered by current engines. Saab- Fairchild moves into Asia Saab-Fairchild is to join the regional airliner manu facturers trying to grab a slice of the Asian cake, with the opening of a Singapore office in October. President and chief execu tive George Cudahy said in Paris that he saw "great potential in the long term in the Asia/Pacific region" for the SF.340 35-seat turboprop. A variety of potential customers have been targeted. Chinese CAAC teams have visited the Saab-Fairchild factory in Linkoping, Sweden, and talks have been under way for almost a year. But it is not only China, everyone's current favourite customer, which is being wooed by the Swedish-American joint company. Saab-Fairchild looks close to winning orders in Thailand, and is hopeful of edging into the important Philippine market, where UK products are unpopular because of the long-standing dispute over international scheduled services between London and Manila. Saab-Fairchild will be offering these potential clients a more powerful SF. 340 which received its Swedish certification two days before the opening of the Le Bourget Salon. With only minor changes to the General Electric CT7-5A2 engines, power has been uprated from 1,630 s.h.p. to 1,753 s.h.p. The new configuration also has larger Dowty Rotol propellers (a diameter of 132in compared with the earlier 126in). The new combination pushes cruise speed to 280kt at 15,000ft and increases climb rate by 10 per cent. The aircraft is now certifi cated with a gross weight of 27,2751b instead of 27,0001b. Cudahy said that the company is looking for a 27,8001b MTOW in the near future which would give a 200 n.m. increase in range. He added that Saab-Fairchild was particularly keen to boost hot-and-high performance at maximum payload. 15
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